


Hogmanay, 1938

by Phoenixflames12



Series: An Endless Night: Extended Scenes [6]
Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, Domestic Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 06:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13265301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenixflames12/pseuds/Phoenixflames12
Summary: New Year's Eve, 1937- New Year's Day, 1938Captain James Fraser and his family welcome in the New Year





	Hogmanay, 1938

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review my WW2 Alternate Universe. 
> 
> To repay all of your patience at the sheer amount of angst that I like throwing at you, here is some long awaited fluff for your enjoyment!

Jamie sits at the desk in the study, watching the flickering glow of the lights of the courtyard shimmer and dance against the window, a sheath of paper pulled up towards him. He is trying to work out a new water course for the weir that brought water off the moor for the estate, but thus far any strokes of genius have eluded him. Soft echoes of voices float up from the window as he sits in the quiet- Claire waving Jenny and Ian goodbye, thanking them for taking part in the first footing.

 

The customary gifts of Mrs Crook’s delicious black bun, coal, salt and whisky would be on the kitchen table now, delivered by his brother-in-law and best friend- newly signed up as a pilot in the RAF Reserves. His heart twists a little at the thought of Ian donning the pilot’s uniform and heading to the airfield just outside Inverness, with little between him and death but some well screwed metal and air.

 

Twists again, tighter this time, at the thought of Jenny and the growing Murray weans, left alone at Balmaclellan if their worst fears were founded and Ian was called to war. Wee Jamie just rising thirteen, Maggie whose eleventh birthday they will celebrate in March and little Katharine, eight years old, the same age as Brianna.

 

_Brianna. Brianna who spent most days running through the woods playing at savages with Bran, tumbling through the heather and bracken up by the broch, tramping home well after dark with tales of kelpies and water spirites that she had seen dancing in patches of shadowed moonlight out on the water’s quiet darkness._

_Faith. Faith, who was studying for her final year exams at the small school in Broch Mordha and hoping to become a nurse. Faith who in the midst of helping decorate the hall for the celebrations had run outside and surprised them all with a little hedgehog whom she had found trying to keep warm in the shadows of the moss soaked front steps._

_William. He still remembers the weight of his son resting peacefully in his arms in the hospital. Can see the barely there features that he can trace in his sleep, the slant to his eyes, the soft downy shock of auburn hair, the faint flush of the birthmark running from cheek to jaw._

The candle that he had brought up to light his work gutters for a moment, the flame leaping and dancing in the dusk and he turns from the thoughts of the children to thoughts of Claire.

_Claire whose name caught a sharp, sweet longing in his heart. Claire, whose being was a candle in his moments of darkness._

‘Sorcha,’ he murmurs in the quiet, leaning back and letting his eyes slip shut, her whisky coloured eyes glimmering beyond the line of his vision, grateful beyond words that he still has this time to love her.

 

* * *

 

 

He is roused from his doze at the sound of a soft step outside the study door.

 

Known, tender hands find his shoulders, slender fingers worn from hours of work plunging into the pit between bone and muscle.

 

‘Happy New Year’, she whispers, a tendril of hair brushing loosely against his cheek as she bends to kiss him.

 

Outside the window, a sliver of moon hangs still against the clouds and the stars burn faint and cold in the sky.

 

‘A guid New Year to ye too, _mo nighean don’,_ he murmurs back. Her body radiates the sharp, winter warmth of coming in after being out in the cold for too long, scents of smoke and firelight clinging to her hair.

 

‘Jenny and Ian send their love’, she murmurs, hands slipping further down his chest as her lips brush his cheek. He reaches up then to find her hands, bestowing a soft kiss on her knuckles.

 

‘And Faith and Bree want you to read them a story’, there is a smile in her voice, a laughing smile that warms his heart.

 

‘They wouldn’t go to bed without one. And Faith said that you had to do _all_ the voices,’ gripping her arm, he pulls her towards him, grinning at her squeal of protest.

 

‘Did they?’ He cannot help but smile, using his free hand to card his fingers through her hair. They ripple like fire over the digits, soft melodies of brown and gold and auburn blazing against his skin.

 

‘They did’, she is smiling behind the offered kiss as she pulls away from him, eyes glowing in the dusk.

 

He nods and stands, letting out a breath into a yawn that makes her laugh.

 

The house unravels slowly around them as they climb the stairs towards the girls’ bedroom.

 

The new moon’s light, clean and healing for the new year, pours through the great hall’s windows below them, casting them half in shadow, half in light.

 

Jamie draws closer to her, feeling the curve of Claire’s body, still recovering from the pain and surprise of William’s birth pull close.

 

‘I love you’, she whispers, reaching up to cup his cheek, her hands reaching to rest on his chest. They have reached the second-floor landing now, a chink of light flickering under the door to Faith and Brianna’s bedroom.

 

‘I love ye too, _mo ghraidh._ Happy New Year,’ he holds her closer, revelling in the clear quiet of this new, never known time.

 

As they draw nearer to the girls’ soft, sleep filled prattle, he feels his eyes slip shut for just a moment, offering up a prayer that despite the slowly growing rumbles of war in Europe, he will be able to enjoy this year in peace.

 

* * *

_**Fin**_  

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to read and review!
> 
> Comments, suggestions, constructive criticisms etc are like chocolate to my brain!
> 
> Much love and enjoy x


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